Jasmine could only stare at his side face, speechlessly. She couldn't utter any sound when parting her lips.
“It's not a big deal, you can just say no, I'll understand” Noah elucidated, stealing a side glance at Jasmine.
After some careful thought, “I'll do it, sir” she pronounced quickly. “When is the party?” she added.
“Tomorrow evening,” he responded, pulling the car to a halt inside the hospital parking lot.
Sighing, “I'm just worried about, Aurora. Where will she be until the goddamn party is over?” he let out his fear.
“Can't she come with us?” asked Jasmine curiously. Noah stared at her face and answered, “It's a business party, Jasmine. She can't,”
“Is it that children are prohibited from attending a business party?” Jasmine pressed on and Noah gazed at her face as if he were trying to have a second thought about it.
“Don't worry, Mr. Cooper. I'll take care of it, Aurora is also coming with us,” Jasmine assured, bringing a little smile to Noah's impassive face.
“Alright then. We'll go shop for your dress tonight, rather your dresses”
Jasmine chuckled softly and then nodded with a smile and left the car afterward.
Danica hugged a pillow to her chest as she continued to snore loudly, the whole room vibrating along. Suddenly, she saw herself swimming on her bed and she smiled from her sleep. This was the first time she would be having such a ridiculous dream.
“Wake up!”
Her eyes flung open instantly, but she directly shut them back and slowly opened them again. The first thing her eyes landed on was the bucket her mother was holding, and it was then she realized she had been soaked with water.
Mrs. Antonio had poured water on her daughter heavily.
She glanced down at herself and noticed she was still wearing the red dress from last night.
As she slowly braced herself up, “Why did you have to drench me, mom?” her voice had a crying tone while a hint of sadness flashed across her eyes.
“Because you're so useless, Danica. The greatest mistake I've made so far in my entire life is giving birth to you. Simple task, Danica, you couldn't attain it. Instead, you got pissed drunk and mumbling gibberish” Mrs. Antonio yelled at the top of her voice, casting a reproachful glance at her daughter.
“Answer me, did I even ask you to get drunk in the first place? Huh!”
“I just wanted it to make it look real, mom, if I had gone there, pretending to be drunk while there was no scent of alcohol on my body, then he would suspect something,” Danica defended, raising her voice a little.
“That makes you so dumb, Danica, you're so dumb. Even at that, you should have just sprinkled the alcohol on your body instead of drinking it, you do not have a sense at all”
“You see, you better start praying that Mr. Cooper should call you while I'm away. And not only to call you but to invite you to be his date to the party. If not…” she broke off, glaring impatiently at her daughter. Her gaze was more powerful than ten thousand words.
Danica's shoulders dropped as she watched her mother's back view disappearing to the door. She heaved a rueful sigh while she brushed her wet hair backward.
In the hospital.
Jasmine raised her head from what she was doing and looked at the door. “Come in, please”
The person came in, carrying a large bouquet of flowers. Seeing this, Jasmine quickly jumped to her feet to assist the person.
“Someone sent this to you, Miss Jasmine,” the person announced after he had kept the flower on Jasmine's desk. Jasmine stared at this unfamiliar man while he gave her a note to sign on it. “Who?”
“There's a card attached to it, Miss” the young man responded politely, and it was then Jasmine signed on the note, “Thank you,”
As soon as the man evacuated from her office, her lips lifted in a wide grin as she searched around the flower for a note. She soon found a yellow adhesive note inside the flower and plucked it.
*You are beautiful*
Jasmine reread this short sentence over and over again. However, the moment her eyes caught by the tiny font at the tip of the note, the smile that was covering her lips faded away at once.
“What?!” she yelled.
Jasmine carried the flowers and managed to walk out of her designated area and headed for Xavier's office.
The few people she walked past in the hallway, couldn't help but shot her a hatred glare.
"She's bringing flowers to her secret admirer during work hours? She doesn't have shame, don't you think?” one of them enunciated to the other, and they both shook their hands as they walked away.
Upon arriving at his office door, Jasmine knocked once and let herself in. Xavier leaped to his feet and watched how she got closer to his desk and lowered the flowers on it.
Inhaling and exhaling softly, “What's the meaning of this, Xavier?” she asked in an irate tone, her beautiful eyes filling with chilling anger.
“It's just a flower, Jasmine,” Xavier responded calmly, looking at her angry face.
“Even when you and I were together, you never took the initiative of giving me flowers, then why are you suddenly giving me now that we are not together anymore?”
Xavier scampered out of his seat, holding a regretful expression.
“We are still together, Jasmine, I can't bring myself to let go of you,” his voice quivered as he spoke.
He held her arms gently and continued, “Please Jasmine, give me a chance to redeem myself, I promise, I'll be a better boyfriend this time. If you want, we can get married right away”
Jasmine's eyes narrowed shrewdly as she glared at the man holding her at that moment, her eyes were cold and lacking any warmth.
“Don't you get it, I don't love you anymore, Xavier, my heart has now belonged to someone else” she pulled away from his grasp and left his office immediately.
By the time she returned to her seat, tears spilled uncontrollably out of her eyes, and her heart hurt a lot. Thinking back to memories of her and Xavier being together, her tears poured out hysterically. “Why did you hurt me in the first place, Xavier? Why?”
Jasmine cried for a long time and didn't realize when she drifted off to sleep. However, she was woken up by the ringing tone of her cellphone, and seeing the caller ID, she wiped off her eyes and answered the call.
“Hey. I'm waiting for you outside,” hearing his words only means that it was her closing hour. She looked out the window and saw that it was evening already, and her lips opened to the shape of, 'o' “I'll be there in a jiffy,”
Aurora and Noah stood next to each other beside his car, waiting for Jasmine.
“Are we going somewhere, daddy?” Aurora asked her father, raising her head to meet the eyes of Noah, who was much taller than her.
“Yes, baby. We're going out with Jasmine”
Aurora was still squealing happily at the good news when Jasmine appeared in front of them.
“Jasmine,” Aurora called out with excitement as she went into her embrace. “Hey, darling. How have you been?” asked Jasmine with a gleam flashing across her face?
Half an hour later, they were done shopping for the party. Jasmine was thrilled at the length that Noah spent on everything.
“Jasmine, you and I will be looking so elegant tomorrow evening” Aurora proclaimed as she and Jasmine walked hand in hand. Jasmine smiled and countered, “Yes dear,”
“Why didn't you buy a matching color with us, daddy? You'll look different,” Aurora said with a grimace, and both Jasmine and Noah laughed shortly.
“You don't expect me to wear a red tuxedo, Aurora,” Noah told her as he kept their shopping bags in the car boot.
“Why not, daddy? We'll look like a complete family and everyone shall be envious of us. Our image would be seen in the magazines, newspapers, and on the TV screens”
Noah stared at his daughter agape, “Remind me of your age again, Aurora Cooper”
“I'm six years old, daddy, but I'll turn seven in a few months,” she responded proudly.
Meanwhile, during this time, Jasmine was lost in thought as she continued to stare at Aurora.
Crouching before her, “Aurora, can you pretend to be my daughter tomorrow at the party you and your daddy are talking about?” she asked patiently and cautiously, all in all, ensuring a smile was evolving on her face.
“No, Jasmine, I would rather not pretend” Aurora said pointedly and Jasmine's smile faded away immediately as she peeked at Noah's face.
“I want you to be my mother and I want to be your daughter. I'm aware that you're not a bad person like Aunt Danica,” as she said these words, tears were already trickling down her cheeks, bringing tears to Jasmine's eyes as well. She reached out and pulled her into her embrace and stroked her hair tenderly.